BILLINGS – A Billings property owner says he is trying to regain possession of his property from a habitual squatter in a dispute that has been going on for more than two years.
Allen Rice purchased a large commercial building at 1140 First Ave. N. in the Billings BIRD District about two years ago with the hopes of renovating it into affordable housing.
The Billings Fire Department issued a citation to the building and to Rice for not having proper fire suppression equipment, a violation that led to Rice abandoning his plans to build a boarding house after he found the cost of installing a sprinkler system too expensive.
Instead, he filled the building with commercial tenants, including retail stores and a podcast studio.
“It's 33 units. It's got a variety of tenants,” Rice said.
MTN News
MTN News
He said the facility is generally running smoothly.
But Rice said one of the tenants occupying space in the two larger units, Units 3 and 7, has no plans to leave, despite refusing to pay rent for more than a year.
“I have this one tenant,” Rice said, “who is doing so much bad stuff.”
Rice said he has been unsuccessful in a civil lawsuit pending in district court to evict the tenant, Jarvis Carter, and that a year has passed and there is still no trial date set.
Inside the unit are piles of what Rice believes to be stolen property.
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Rice also believes Carter slept in the room at one point, but was not allowed to do so.
“Quite frankly, this is a full-time crime,” Rice said. “This is reselling, this is the kind of fraud that's happening on eBay and on marketplaces.”
Billings police officials told MTN News that officers investigated Rice's reports and took follow-up action where there was sufficient evidence, but they have not confirmed whether Carter's activities on the force constitute criminal activity.
Carter was booked into the Yellowstone County Detention Center on April 29 on a warrant for failure to comply with a warrant, which is unrelated to his dispute with Rice. According to federal court records, Carter served time in prison in the early 2000s on felony charges of forgery and issuing bad checks. Over the next few years, Carter filed lawsuits against the Montana Department of Corrections, Crossroads Correctional Center, Yellowstone County and the Montana Department of Probation and Parole, alleging violations of his civil rights regarding due process.
Carter also filed a lawsuit against Rice, alleging that the building he is staying in is unsafe and unsafe.
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In an off-camera interview with MTN News in late April before his arrest, Carter released a trove of court documents and files he said outlined his grievances against Allen.
Carter acknowledges he stopped paying rent but disputes the idea that he was squatting, instead claiming he was deducting the costs of repairs needed to the property, which ultimately hurt his business stock.
Carter claims the property is unsafe because the roof leaks, the building has electrical problems and the spaces rented to tenants clearly don't meet state standards.
In the lawsuit, Carter is seeking $21,800 in damages, but told MTN News the amount is increasing as the dispute continues.
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MTN News
Rice said he also suffered financial losses.
“The loss of money itself is not the most painful thing,” he said. “What hurts the most is the increased tension, the threats and intimidation towards me and my family, the extortion, demanding money to leave.”
These escalations include Rice locking Carter out of the building, with Carter returning with bolt cutters.
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As he awaits a District Court hearing on the case, Rice says his one-time prospect of helping to revitalize Billings' Byrd District has disappeared because of bureaucracy and what Carter called abuses of the justice system.
“We've been struggling with this issue for two years now and from the private sector's perspective it's not worth it any more,” he said.
Carter told MTN News he is confident he will succeed in the case against Rice.